The call-up followed the earlier deployment of two battalions of soldiers to the West Bank and Gaza. Israel also cancelled leave and training courses and ordered the continuation of a strict lockdown preventing Palestinians from travelling within the Palestinian territories.

Arafat notified

Aides said Palestinian President Yasir Arafat received reports about the Rafah invasion and went to bed at 02:30am on Friday (00:30 GMT). They denied rumours that he was seriously ill.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinian politics were in turmoil after the legislature on Thursday failed to vote approval of the emergency Cabinet appointed by Yasir Arafat, leading new Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya to indicate he no longer wants the job.

In a heated closed-door meeting at Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ram Allah, Quraya suggested he no longer wanted to be prime minister, just four days after taking office, officials said.

His predecessor, Mahmud Abbas, left office blaming the lack of support from Israel, and after losing a power struggle with Arafat.

Attacks

Violence continued on Thursday in the West Bank when a human bomber detonated explosives at an Israeli army base, killing himself and injuring two Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Ahmad Safadi, an 18-year-old high school student from the village of Oref south of Nablus. It had earlier been thought that the attacker was a female.

Restrictions barring Palestinians from entering Israel and preventing many from leaving their towns have been tight since an Islamic Jihad bomber blew up a restaurant in the port city of Haifa on Saturday.

On Thursday, a woman wounded in the attack died in a Haifa hospital, bringing the toll to 20, hospital officials said.